


One By One

by vividder



Category: OMORI (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Gen, One Shot Collection, What-If, canon never happens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 05:08:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29771130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vividder/pseuds/vividder
Summary: "And they're killing me one by one"An alternate interpretation of canon, in which nothing is ever resolved.Work title and chapter titles from Bring Me The Horizon's song One By One
Relationships: Basil & Hero (OMORI), Basil & Sunny (OMORI), Hero & Kel (OMORI), Mari & Sunny (OMORI)
Comments: 31
Kudos: 100





	1. Mari: hush your mouth, you talk too much

Sunny marched upstairs with his violin. Mari followed behind, her footsteps heavy on the staircase. “Hey, we need to do that one more time,” she said to her brother’s back. He stopped at the top of the stairs. 

Mari reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, and Sunny spun.

He didn’t look.

His violin smashed into the railing and shattered.

A moment of horrified silence filled the air. Sunny’s eyes followed the wooden shards to the floor. Mari’s blood ran cold.

“What the hell, Sunny?” Mari couldn’t stop her voice from rising. Everything was going wrong. “The recital is tomorrow! What did you do that for?” 

Sunny looked at Mari like he might study an alien. “I don’t want to,” he mumbled.

“What does that mean?” Mari fought to keep from screaming. “The recital is tomorrow, Sunny! You said you’d play with me, you practiced with me, we were almost ready -- we just needed to do it a few more times, and -- “

“I don’t want to!”

Sunny lashed out.

Mari felt her feet lift off the stairs, a moment of pure fear and floating.

Sunny watched his sister fall backwards. Watched her back hit the stairs and slide to the floor. She didn’t get up.

Sunny walked down, not noticing the blood staining his socks on the last few stairs. Mari was just asleep, right? Her eyes were closed. 

She’d wake up after she had a nap. Everyone felt better after a nap. She would get up in a little bit and yell at him about the violin again. She had to. It had been expensive and everyone had worked so hard to buy it for him and the recital was tomorrow.

So Sunny dragged her up to their bedroom, feeling bad that he wasn’t big enough to carry her properly. She’d probably be mad about the bruises too. 

Mari complained too much sometimes.

Sunny pulled a blanket over her and went downstairs. Maybe she wouldn’t be so mad if he cleaned up. Sunny picked up the scattered music. Mewo had started to bat the broken pieces of violin around the floor.

Huh. Mari must have cut herself. The music and stairs had blood on them. Maybe she’d fallen on a piece of the violin. 

He could make this all go away. Sunny had the key to the old toy box in the yard. Mari thought it was gone forever. She’d never think to look for his stuff in there. Maybe he wouldn’t have to do the recital after all.

Sunny crept back to his room and retrieved the key from its hiding spot in a card deck box in his dresser. He took a plastic bag from under the sink and put everything inside before going outside.

Sunny stood at the bottom of the stairs. Mewo watched curiously.

He went to play on the computer while Mari slept.

Sunny shook Mari’s shoulder. He’d gotten bored with the computer.

But she didn’t stir. She just laid there.

Sunny grabbed her hand and yanked at her arm. “Mari, time to get up.”

Normally, she would roll over and pull her arm back or pretend he’d succeeded in dragging her off the bed. But she did neither.

And her hand...it was cold. But it was summer. And the air conditioning never worked quite right. Sunny looked at her pale skin.

“Mari?” Sunny waved his hand over her face. “Mari, wake up! Mari! Mari, please! Please, please, please, please, please!”

No warmth swept across Sunny’s skin. It was as if he had tried to rouse a doll.

Or a corpse.

Ice flowed through Sunny’s veins. He stumbled backwards.

This wasn’t real.

This wasn’t real, this wasn’t real, this wasn’t real, this wasn’t real.

Just a dream, right?

Basil knocked on Sunny’s door. His friend didn’t answer. He tried the knob. It turned and he let himself in. Mari had told him to come in anytime, so this was okay. “Sunny?” he called into the empty house.

Sunny had said he would be home, right? Was he remembering correctly?

Basil wanted to turn around and leave, but the house wasn’t empty. After all, Sunny’s family never left the door unlocked if they weren’t home.

Maybe he was hiding. Or sleeping. Basil would just check Sunny’s room, and if he wasn’t there, he would leave.

Feeling better now that he had a plan, Basil made his way up the stairs.

He opened the bedroom door and looked inside. Mari lay on her bed, halfway covered by a blanket. Sunny sat on the floor hunched up against the wardrobe, his face buried in his knees. Not a sound from either of them.

Something was wrong. Basil could feel it. 

Mari wasn’t moving at all. Her chest didn’t even rise and fall with her breath. The conclusion crashed down upon Basil like an avalanche.

He must be making that noise but it sounds like it must come from somewhere, anywhere else, because Basil couldn’t move. He didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t supposed to see this. He’s not supposed to know this.

Everything he’s thinking must be wrong. It can’t be right. Something must have happened, something he doesn’t know.

But Basil -- if he drew the conclusion, everyone else would too.

His voice, high-pitched with anxiety, trembled.

“Everything is going to be okay.”

Sunny followed Basil. Basil didn’t know why. They carried Mari outside.

Of course Sunny didn’t...do this to her. That’s not the kind of thing his best friend would do.

But Basil’s best friend refused to speak to him and wouldn’t meet his eyes.

His body moved on autopilot as he made the noose.

Sunny looked up through the tree’s leaves into the fractured sky.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” Basil whispered over and over because if he didn’t, he’d be wrong and everything would fall apart.

He put the noose around Mari’s neck. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

He pulled the jump rope over the branch. Mari’s body hung next to the broken toy box. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

He secured it in place. Basil couldn’t keep this up. He started crying without meaning to. He just wanted this to be over, was it too much to ask? Could he just wake up now?

Sunny finally looked at him. Basil squeezed his hand and tried to smile, but it turns into a broken nightmare.

One glassy eye peered out at them through hair and the amber light from the setting sun.

~

_ MARIA BRENNAN, loving daughter and sister, went to be with the Lord at age 17. She was a junior at Faraway High School and played on the varsity girl’s softball team. Mari enjoyed playing the piano, cooking, and spending time with her friends and family. Her presence, whether it came with a song, a basket of homemade food, or simply a smile, brightened the entire neighborhood. Mari is remembered by her parents and her younger brother, and everyone whose life she touched. _


	2. Sunny: disconnected from the world again

Mari’s funeral felt as real as a tableau. The girl in the box didn’t look like his sister. 

Within a year, Sunny’s parents divorced.

_ It’s rare that a marriage survives the loss of a child _ , the neighbors whispered.  _ What a bright girl. What a terrible tragedy. _

Within two years, Sunny and his mother moved from Faraway Town. She had tried to cut down the tree, tried to cover up the piano, tried to ignore the fact they had a backyard.

Sunny pushed the oddness away. He pretended his room had never had a second occupant, that the picnic baskets his mom could never bear to throw away were mere collectables, that the girl in the pictures...wasn’t.

But the memory still lurked at the edges of his mind. He pushed it down, locked it in a box. Locked himself away from the world he didn’t deserve to be a part of.

In his mind, everything was fine. He could hang out with everyone again, stopping to eat with Mari every time they got tired. Nobody fought. Nobody looked at him with pity. He was strong. He protected his friends. He never hurt anyone.

Nothing bad ever happened in Sunny’s mind.

But every time he built this world, Something tore it to pieces. Shadows started to bleed in around the edges. Mari’s eyes turned from shining with life to as dead as glass.  _ Sunny, come out and play!  _ became  _ Sunny, why did you kill Mari? _

Because he killed her. Her last words rattled in his ears. They pulled at Sunny like a riptide. And like a swimmer caught in a riptide, he didn’t have the strength to escape.

Everyday life became increasingly alien and unfamiliar.

Every day wore him out.

The mental world shattered as soon as he could create it.

He stood alone, battered by the waves.

No one would ever find him at the bottom of the ocean.

Sunny gave in.

He let the waves pull him under.

The waves pulled him around the cold sidewalks, up and down streets and alleys. He didn’t know where he wanted to go.

Three years and Sunny had only left the apartment a handful of times. He didn’t know his way around. Didn’t know anything. But he knew what he wanted to find.

And in a city, it wasn’t hard to find.

Unlike Mari, his parents wouldn’t have to find their other child. He’d gone far enough.

Sunny climbed the fire escape until his legs burned and he gasped for air. 

The city actually looked kind of nice from up here.

Sunny climbed until he reached the roof. He took a moment to watch the world -- the world he had denied Mari.

The world he didn’t deserve.

He couldn’t disappoint his parents anymore. Hell, it was probably less disappointing to find him dead than it would have been to learn he had murdered Mari. Mari was destined to be great. Sunny was not. That’s just how the world was supposed to work, until he ruined it.

Sunny stepped up onto the edge of the roof.

~

_ SUNNY BRENNAN, of Faraway City, passed away at age 15. Sunny lived with his mother and stepfather in Faraway City after moving from Faraway Town, where he spent his childhood with his mother, father, and older sister. He attended school at Faraway Charter Online. Sunny joins his older sister, Maria Brennan, in a better place and leaves behind his mother, father, and stepfather. Funeral information upon request. _


	3. Basil: my mind feels like an archenemy

Basil had gone to Mari’s funeral, at the small church in their neighborhood. Everyone dressed up. Everyone talked about how nice Mari was. Everyone whispered to ask why she would have done something so horrible.

And Basil stood with his grandmother and Polly. Sunny stood as still as a statue. It was almost as if the world moved around him, and he observed the panorama.

And Mari...someone had cleaned her up. Put makeup and her nicest clothes on her. She didn’t look like herself. She looked like a bad copy. Basil hated it.

Basil could barely speak to Sunny. He apologized after the service. His entire face must have been red.

Someone would see him.

Someone would  _ know _ .

He could see it then, floating behind Sunny, glaring at Basil.

And Sunny just blinked at Basil, not saying anything.

Basil wondered if he could see it too.

Had Sunny ever seen it?

Three years had passed and Basil found himself in the same pew with Polly. His grandmother was too sick to come. She probably didn’t even remember Sunny anyway.

Basil hated this church. He could feel the darkness curling around his feet, threatening to drag him down. He could see that eye, floating over the altar. He could hear the priest’s words twisting, curling out of his mouth, sounding like one thing but meaning another.

This place was forever tainted. He’d ruined it, just like he had ruined Sunny.

If he had never intervened, that thing wouldn’t exist. Mari would rest in peace.

Sunny looked more like himself in the coffin, like he had finally found the peace he’d sought.

Basil wished the last words they’d ever exchanged hadn’t been during that day.

He was the only person that knew the truth. The real truth.

_ Why? Why? Why? _ was all anyone asked right after it happened.

The questions came less frequently now, but every sorrowful look felt like a punch to the gut.

Everything had changed so much. And Basil felt so alone.

Whatever had been behind Sunny had stayed behind. It hadn’t followed him to Mari. It traveled from the city to Basil. It  _ mocked  _ him. When he was too anxious to eat. When he had nightmares of that eye, staring through the dark hair. When he tried to take care of the plants because it was the only thing he could do right.

At first, Polly had tried to help. She tried again, over and over. But between trying to take care of Grandma and Basil, she was stretched too thin. Like he was drowning, and she had jumped into the lake a second too late.

Eventually, the flowers started to die too.

Something dead couldn’t give them life.

The house caved in around them. Polly acted like everything was fine, but  _ she didn’t know _ . She had no idea that whatever had latched itself onto Sunny had come for him, had made his life even more of a living hell. She smiled and cooked and cleaned and tried to get him to talk.

She would never believe him.

One night, Basil went to his room and locked his door. He locked it all the time. 

He thought.

And, finally, Basil decided.

Polly deserved to live her own life. She didn’t deserve to be tied down here. Didn’t deserve to get dragged into the darkness.

Grandma’s gone, the plants were gone.

Sunny’s gone.

Mari’s gone.

There’s no point in staying. He would just hurt people.

~

_ BASIL TRISTAN of Faraway Town passed away at age 16 in his home. He was a sophomore at Faraway High School. Basil cared about all living things, especially the plants that filled and surrounded his home. He always had a smile or kind word for anyone that might need it and never wanted to harm a soul. Throughout her illness, Basil spent time with his grandmother every day, and always made sure she knew she was loved. Becoming Basil’s guardian was one of the best decisions I ever made and I will miss him very much. _


	4. Kel: i don't know what hurts the most

Kel’s heart shattered once, when Mari died.

He had barely managed to pick up the pieces when their mom came into their bedroom one morning, and that look on her face told Kel everything he needed to know.

By that point, Kel understood the world would never go back to normal...whatever that even meant anymore.

After Mari, he had needed people so badly. So, so badly. But Aubrey became quiet and closed-in and cynical, and Basil became fragile, and Hero became someone else entirely.

Basketball at least meant that he had something to look forward to instead of watching the past fade before his eyes. The pain, it sometimes didn’t hurt as much. He didn’t feel as empty looking out of the bedroom window and into the backyard next door.

And that all shattered again, after Sunny.

Kel didn’t open the curtains anymore on that side of the house.

It didn’t seem possible. Sunny had never...well, Mari hadn’t struck him as the type either, so maybe he wasn’t one to judge.

Four years ago he hadn’t known that he’d never see his friend again after watching him follow his mom to the car.

And then Basil.

He had never been the same since Mari. No matter how many times Kel went to his house and asked to hang out or visited him at his summer job at the garden store.

Basil just stammered and retreated further into himself.

And he had barely even left his house after Sunny.

A few weeks later, Polly brought Kel the photo album they’d made so long ago. The one Basil had always kept so lovingly. She said Basil would have wanted Kel to have it.

But it was probably only because she couldn’t give it to Sunny and Hero was away at college.

Kel felt so alone.

He threw himself into basketball, because if he wore himself out, he didn’t think. And if he was surrounded by people, he didn’t feel so alone.

Kel won a basketball scholarship to the state college.

He didn’t know what he wanted to study. Where he’d fit into the world. But as long as he had basketball and crushing deadlines, he wouldn’t have to think about that.

But Kel couldn’t let go of something about that photo album. He never opened it. He just felt better having it nearby. Like maybe his friends hadn’t abandoned each other after all. A piece of Mari, Sunny, and Basil that was just enough of a bandage over the hole in his soul to keep Kel from bleeding out.

College wasn’t bad. Kel could see why Hero didn’t come home more often. Between the studying and the basketball games, Kel had more than enough to do. And he finally felt...less alone. He found friends that seemed to genuinely like him outside of basketball. It was weird. Kel didn’t want to let them in at first. He hadn’t had real, true friends in awhile.

But he was glad he did.

Kel’s life felt like a life again, not just like a sequence of events carrying him from one place to another while he tried not to think of the past.

So just as quickly as this was granted, it was taken away.

~

_ KELLY DUNN, a sophomore at State College, was killed by a drunk driver while on his way home from a basketball game. He was only 20 years old. Originally from Faraway Town, Kel was known for his kindness and enthusiasm throughout his life. He attended State College on a basketball scholarship and enjoyed spending time with his friends. Kel leaves behind many friends and family members, including his parents and older brother Henry Dunn. The State College Basketball team will be honoring him with a moment of silence at every game for the rest of the season. _


	5. Aubrey: me and that bitch, no, we can't be friends

Aubrey went to Mari’s funeral. She wore her nicest dress. She did not know she was supposed to wear black. Her father showed her to the front of the church and stood outside smoking during the service. She was the only person wearing pink.

She felt alone.

When the service ended and everyone made their way to the grave, her father caught her at the edge of the crowd, grabbing her arm and yanking her away, muttering about spending too much time at the damn church and that the game would be on soon.

She saw Sunny, caught glimpses of Kel, Basil, and Hero through the crowd.

But it probably didn’t matter if she’d said hello to them or not.

Everything fell apart anyways.

A few years later, Aubrey found herself in the same circumstances: woefully underdressed in black jeans and a black hoodie, pink hair sticking out of the crowd. The poor girl that’d gone down such a sad path. Her father left. Her mother’s car had been repossessed. She stole things and hung out with the wrong crowd.  _ Tsk tsk. _

Aubrey knew the things people said about her. She tried not to listen.

Her father didn’t have to take her to this funeral.

This time, she got to see the grave, next to Mari’s. Sunny’s mother and father stood apart. Their marriage broken, their family broken, their kids dead. It didn’t get much sadder than that. They looked like they’d aged thirty years in the space of four.

But Aubrey didn’t stay.

She didn’t deserve to be there for Sunny. She let everyone down. They left her. She’d only taint the last memories of him if she stayed. Aubrey could find closure somewhere else. 

Aubrey didn’t go to Basil’s funeral.

She dropped out of school. It just seemed increasingly pointless. When would she ever need to know Shakespeare or algebra if she couldn’t even afford to go to the smallest community college? 

Not to mention no one in Faraway Town would hire her for anything.  _ That girl, she hangs out with hooligans, you know. _

Bun Bun died. She couldn’t find a vet in time. Her mother would drink herself to death in a year or two. Soon they wouldn’t be able to keep the trash-filled house. She’d have to leave anyway. Might as well do it now.

So Aubrey wrote a note, set it on top of the rotting fruit on the counter, packed her bag, and caught a bus into the city.

This was a lot harder than she thought it would be.

Turns out you needed an address to get a job, and Aubrey didn’t have that. The occasional odd job and soup kitchen handout got her by. If you found the right people, the right group, and knew where to go for what you needed, you could be all right. In that case, it really wasn’t that different from high school. And high school had been the least of Aubrey’s worries.

It wasn’t living, but it was a hell of a lot better than being the poor girl in town. She’d rather survive on her own than be pitied. She’d lost enough. Anything else that could hurt her didn’t matter.

Aubrey wandered the neighborhoods, her own little gang-less territory. The others knew her by now, but she wasn’t really one of them. The small, mousy pink-haired girl with the spiked bat. Most of the others treated her like a kid just tagging along. They protected her when she could very well protect herself, thank you very much.

But she wasn’t heartless.

And she didn’t want to be alone.

So when she saw the woman being pushed up against the side of the house, Aubrey walked right up behind the man and slammed her bat into his head.

The man collapsed to the ground, almost right on top of Aubrey. She jumped back, her blood turning cold when she realized what she’d done.

Did she kill him?

The woman grinned at her. Even in the darkness, Aubrey could see her puffy lip and the darkness around one eye.

“You saved me,” she breathed. “A few more minutes and he’d probably bash my head in. Thanks kid.”

“Is he dead?” Aubrey asked. She couldn’t lift her eyes from the body on the ground.

The woman knelt down. A clip in her air caught the light from a street lamp and glittered. She held a hand over his mouth. “Nah. I wouldn’t care if he was, though. Motherfucker just thinks he can come and take whatever he wants.” She stood up and looked over Aubrey. “You got a place to stay, kid?”

“I do fine on my own.”

The woman crossed her arms. “Meaning you sleep in alleys and under park benches.”

Aubrey crossed her own arms and looked the woman in the eyes. “I said I’m fine.”

She shook her head. “We have a room and need someone to fill it. Be real handy if we had someone like you around, but you do what you want.”

On one hand, this was too good to be true. On the other, Aubrey knew she wasn’t going to get legitimate work any time soon.

“And what about rent?”

“You can work off the room by helping around the house. You seem like a good kid. Don’t worry, we’re not gonna make you do anything dangerous or illegal.” The woman laughed. “But seriously, you’ll catch your death out here in the winter.”

So Aubrey moved in.

Overall, things were pretty chill. Aubrey had expected to want to get the hell out immediately, or that the place would be trashed and full of drugs.

Well, it might have been full of drugs, but it wasn’t trashed and the people were nice.

In fact, it almost felt like she had a real family again. Between doing her hair with Sheila, playing video games with Warren and David, and doing chores and applying for jobs, things felt significantly more hopeful than they had in a long time.

These people appreciated her.

She didn’t expect it to last -- and she didn’t have to bash in any more heads -- but somehow, it did. Months passed. Aubrey got a job flipping burgers. She didn’t have to go to food banks anymore.

At night she thought of Mari and Sunny and Basil. 

She wondered where their old photo album had ended up.

Over time, the burger-flipping faded into the background. Other jobs made more money and didn’t involve dealing with hot oil. Everyone knew about the girl with the spiked bat.

No one wanted to fuck with her or her housemates, no matter what kind of shady shit they happened to get into. Not that they let her see -- “You’ve still got a chance to get out of this.” As if Aubrey would want to leave the only real family she’d ever had.

The parties happened every few months, then every month, then every weekend. Bodies packed the house, the lights turned off, and music played through every speaker. While Aubrey had once spent them hanging by a wall or standing on the porch, now she enjoyed them. She and her friends would play cards and drink and look at the sky.

But she wasn’t a kid anymore. Aubrey kissed boys, kissed girls, got wasted, wore what she wanted and did what she wanted. She felt free. In Shelia’s clothes, surrounded by the best people she had ever met, Aubrey felt alive.

For years, the house remained constant, even if Aubrey wasn’t there or the inhabitants changed. She would live here or there every so often, intending to be hard to pin down. But with Sheila like a sister and the memories of the good days, Aubrey always found herself drawn back. Drawn to safety. Or the closest thing to safety she knew.

Sometimes she thought of Faraway Town and the people there. She doubted anyone had bothered to look for her.

But that was okay. Aubrey never intended to be found. In fact, the more lost she could become, the better. Running away from everything had worked so far. She could do this forever.

It just kind of happened, the way it happened to so many others.

It didn’t hurt anyone if she used, tried a little here or there. It wasn’t peer pressure, or self-esteem, or any sort of tangible desire, just impulse and no one with the good sense to stop her. But Aubrey was a member of their little underground community now. If anything, today was her formal inauguration, a transition from naive street kid to someone who had truly experienced it all.

And it felt as natural as breathing and more wonderful than anything she had ever imagined.

Life proceeded on. Making money, losing money, making friends, losing friends, being caught, being freed.

Until it ended, just as everything seemed to end. With just a simple mistake.

~

_ “Earlier tonight a young woman was found dead in an alley off of 14th Street in Faraway City of a suspected drug overdose. The Faraway City police department has identified the victim as Aubrey Blakely. If anyone has information related to this death, please call…” _


	6. Hero: i don't know what hurts the most

After Mari’s funeral, Hero went to the room he shared with Kel and didn’t come out. He couldn’t. It felt like someone had funneled all the hope, all the joy, and all of the wonderful things out of the world. He refused to look out the window because he’d just remember her, her and Sunny hanging out in their backyard.

He just couldn’t accept that those kinds of things...they’d never happen again. As far as Hero was concerned, the entire world had shattered.

After a few weeks, Hero’s parents dragged him to therapists and psychologists, but no one truly understood. Not even Kel, who just tried to pretend Mari’s death wasn’t the worst thing he’d ever experienced.

Hero couldn’t believe Kel could act like such a kid. Finally, a feeling other than sadness and despair built up inside of him, and it exploded when he stood and shouted words he didn’t remember, pushing Kel into the wall on the opposite side of the room. He just remembered screaming at his brother and feeling the emotional agony coursing through his body.

And when his dad pulled Hero away and their mom stood in the doorway covering her face and trying to hide her sobs, Hero had finally realized what he had done.

Hero went through the motions in school, applying for college, doing internships and extracurriculars, but nothing felt important anymore. It all felt stupid, temporary. He’d tried to make up with Kel, but even if his brother had forgiven him, Hero didn’t think he’d ever be worthy of such a thing.

So he avoided Kel, avoided coming home, spending every free hour at the library. 

Hero had made a mistake by daring to think things couldn’t get worse.

Sunny died too. 

Hero had slept in with his phone on silent, and by the time he woke up, he had a dozen missed calls from his mother. 

Sunny.

How could he do something like that?

Hero felt numb. He hadn’t seen Sunny since Mari’s funeral.

He wished that hadn’t been the last time he’d seen his friend.

Faraway Town seemed so different. Herp hadn’t bothered to note or care about the changes after Mari’s death and then college. He’d just been trying to leave.

Basil had become smaller and more timid, Aubrey had cold, hard eyes and stood away from the rest of the mourners. Even Kel had changed, throwing himself into basketball and finding every reason not to be at home or anywhere nearby. Everything Hero had thought he might be able to rely on had changed. 

He didn’t feel any closure when he returned to college after the funeral.

Hero wished his phone would never ring again. He wanted to throw it into the ocean and scream.

Basil.

Basil, whose small frame and timid nature always hid insightful and creative observations, had died, just as suddenly as Mari and Sunny.

Hero threw the phone against the wall and watched it shatter.

Basil’s funeral was small and somber. He wasn’t popular, wasn’t well-liked. He didn’t have many friends, didn’t have any family besides his caregiver.

For Hero, it looked like Basil had been forgotten by the world before his body had even turned cold.

So many people had died in Faraway Town for...nothing. Nothing Hero could even fathom. Even in the darkest days after Mari had died, endless ennui had seemed fitting. Not this. Not death.

Kel had looked so happy, but now he barely spoke outside of basketball. He flicked through the channels on the television one by one, searching but never finding. The boom box he’d begged for all those years ago gathered dust in the corner. 

Hero went back to school.

Kel went to college.

Things seemed like they might still be survivable. Nothing could have stayed like childhood forever. Except most people’s childhoods didn’t end with the deaths of their friends, one by one. 

He couldn’t let this keep happening. Didn’t want it to happen to anyone else. Hero might not have been able to save Sunny, Mari, or Basil, but he could help other people. 

Hero began to focus on the classes that would help him get into medical school. His life had been hell. He didn’t want anyone else to die. Didn’t want anyone else to know the same despair. Hero would live up to his name.

But life’s cruelty couldn’t be measured.

Now Hero sat at the front of the church. In fact, so many people had tried to attend the funeral that they stood in the narthex and around the walls. Friends on the basketball team, friends on opposing basketball teams, classmates, teachers, coaches. Even Mari’s funeral hadn’t been this big, but it had seemed like it at the time.

_ A tragic accident _ , everyone said.

But their mother looked like she had aged ten years in the past few weeks alone. They couldn’t go on like this. No one could. Hero wanted to upturn the altar and shout, scream that none of these theatrics or kind words would bring Kel or anyone back, and that if someone had just cared while any of these people were alive, nothing like this would have ever happened! He would never have had to visit this goddamn church so many times. 

Hero hated it. Hated everything about this church and the little graveyard in the back.

For a long time, Hero kept to himself. He had seen the damage that could be done by carelessness, even careless friends. If he kept to himself, he might be safe. He could do his job and get by. 

_ Everything will be okay _ .

Hero could only imagine Basil smiling up at him as he said that, just like he had when they were kids.

But no one can keep their walls up forever. Doing so, after all, had killed so many. So when a girl with short, dark hair sat next to him in their classes together, Hero didn’t get up and move somewhere else. Besides, he liked being at the front of the classroom.

They exchanged a few words every class.

One day she gave him her phone number. Hero didn’t text it.

He felt like he was betraying Mari, even after all these years. Even though she would have wanted him to move on. Even though she wouldn’t have wanted to see the world caught in this endless spiral of death and decay.

Hero runs into the girl at a cafe on campus. 

“What are you up to tonight?”

He ends up studying with her at the library. Somehow, it feels more peaceful than studying alone in his dorm.

Hero texts her that night.

By the time Hero goes to do his clinical rotations, he realizes he actually has several friends. Somehow, Lily has managed to drag him to enough social events that he talks to people. Regularly. And he doesn’t feel so afraid.

Hero’s life continues. He dates here and there, eventually marrying Lily. At the wedding, a place is saved with the family for where Kel would have sat. The loss still hurts so much. But his life hasn’t ended yet, and Hero owes it to himself and his patients to be the kind of person that survives.

Year pass.

So do promotions, job changes, birthdays, and vacations.

Basil always said that everything would be okay. Hero was glad he listened.

~

_ HENRY DUNN, known to friends and family as Hero, passed away suddenly in his sleep as the result of a brain aneurysm. Originally from Faraway Town, Hero traveled out-of-state for college, where he met his wife, Lily Dunn. Dr. Dunn proceeded to go to medical school to become a psychiatrist, a career he believed in and deeply cared about. In his free time, Dr. Dunn enjoyed volunteering and spending time with his family. He leaves behind his wife, Lily Dunn, and his mother.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your comments and kudos. Makes my day brighter every time I get the notifications.


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